Sceptics raise fear that India’s journey in Myanmar will not be smooth as it will face stiff competition from players like China. But in fact India and China can cooperate with each other in developing trilateral joint projects in the country.

On 29 May 2012 the official daily of Myanmar New
Light of Myanmar in its editorial hailed the visit of Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh to Myanmar in these words:
“India needs Myanmar, and Myanmar also needs India, and that is the
common ground.” Though Indian officials visited Myanmar in recent years, an
official of the ranking of Prime Minister visited the country after 25 years,
the last being Rajiv Gandhi. Much has changed in intervening years, the
military rulers in the South East Asian nation have opened the path of reforms
in the country, allowed the leaders like Aung San Suu Kyi to visit abroad, and conducted
general elections considered free and fair. Besides these changes which
attracted international attention and thus visit of leaders of major powers to
the country in recent months and easing of sanctions, is the rise of Myanmar as
a strategic country linking South Asia to South East Asia, and as a major connecting
point and transportation bridge. This later factor has nonetheless gone into
calculations of major powers including India. Though India had launched Look
East policy during Narasimha Rao regime in 1990s towards developing relations
with south east Asian nations, the recent years have in fact saw India’s
diplomacy taking vigorous steps to promote India’s interests in neighbourhood.
Both Indian and Myanmar share 1600 km long border and four of India’s states
Mizoram, Nagaland, Manipur, and Arunachal Pradesh share borders with Myanmar.

The relations between India and Myanmar are, in
fact, very old stretching back to centuries, even millennia. The land of
Myanmar too has a name in Sanskrit, Suvarnabhumi (meaning land of gold or
golden land). The cultural linkages in terms of spread of Buddhism from India
to Myanmar, and settlement of large Indian origin people in Myanmar too further
indicate the commonalities between the two countries. There are still many
Hindu shrines in Myanmar. During British rule, Myanmar, then called Burma, was
part of British India. Some of the noted Indian freedom fighters like Bal
Gangadhar Tilak were imprisoned in Mandalay in Burma. From this jail Tilak
composed one of his most famous books called Gita Rahasya (secret of Gita). The
father of modern Burma, Aung San too had good relations with Indian freedom
fighters like Jawaharlal Nehru. The common linkages were however shattered
after the military junta came to power in 1960s, which nationalized Indian
enterprises and expelled many Indians. India too adopted a lacklustre approach
to military regime and supported the democratic reform movement of Aung San Suu
Kyi, the Indian educated daughter of Aung San. However, it was only in 1990s,
India shed idealism and adopted a pragmatic approach to develop relations with
the military junta, as it viewed Myanmar not only as a gateway to South east
Asia and ASEAN, but also as an important country for trade and strategic
interests.

Hence, the visit of Indian Prime Minister Singh
to Myanmar set the tone of a new era in which old differences are transformed
into new cordialities for enhancing bilateral trade and commerce. Last year the
reformist President of Myanmar, Thein Sein visited India to strengthen the
bilateral relations. The visit of Manmohan Singh is reflective not only of
India’s seriousness to add sinews to its Look East policy, but also to actually
turn its fledgling relationship with Myanmar into full fledged partnership.
India’s objection against Myanmar’s anti-democratic policies no longer on hold,
it is but natural that the two countries revive the old bonhomie. Singh’s
meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, and inviting her to deliver Jawaharlal Nehru memorial
lecture in India shows that the democratic deficit in Myanmar’s politics is waning.
Earlier it was almost impossible to meet Suu Kyi as she remained most of the
time under house arrest. That Manmohan Singh could meet her, and hold a joint
press meeting is no small development. During the visit, India extended $500
million line of credit for development of infrastructure in Myanmar, besides
inking 12 agreements in diverse areas ranging from infrastructure,
connectivity, energy resource, port development, agriculture, and a host of
other areas. Both the countries proposed to open border haats (markets), in the
similar style India and Bangladesh have opened markets on border areas. India
has also announced to repair or upgrade 71 bridges on the Tamu-Kalewa
friendship Road in Myanmar, besides developing the Sittwe port. India has also
expressed interest to invest in the Dawei port. Both the countries have also
proposed to start a bus service from Indian city of Imphal to Mynamar city of
Mandalay. In fact, the roads can be developed in such a way that there can be
road links stretching from India’s north east to Myanmar, further towards
Thailand, in fact towards whole of south east Asia, and further towards
Pacific. Manmohan Singh’s statement reflected increasing bonhomie between the
two countries, “India and Myanmar are natural partners, linked by geography and
history.”

Sceptics raise fear that India’s journey in
Myanmar will not be smooth as it will face stiff competition from players like
China. At present the bilateral trade between India and Myanmar stands at $1.2
billion, while between Myanmar and China, it stands at about $4.4 billion.
China is far ahead of India in developing joint projects in Myanmar. But, that
imbalance can only be righted only with more vigorous cooperation between the
two countries, rather than perceiving the issue from a zero sum game framework.
There can be healthier competition, and in fact India and China can cooperate
with each other in developing trilateral joint projects in the country. The
Chinese foreign ministry sought to dispel any such suspicion factor, and its
spokesperson, Liu Weimin, as reported in Chinese official daily Chinese Daily,
stated that “China is glad to see India and Myanmar develop friendly
cooperative relations, and hopes that the development of their relations is
conducive to the peace, stability and prosperity of the two countries as well
as the region.”

Besides the areas of trade and commerce, there
are also many other areas which both the countries focused during the trip of
Singh. India is wary of insurgency problem in its north east, which is partly
possible due to insurgents’ connection in the border areas, parts of which
belong to Myanmar. The President of Myanmar promised Singh that he will not
allow the soil of Myanmar to be used against India. The joint statement read,
“both leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to fight the scourge of
terrorism and insurgent activity in all its forms and manifestations.” The two
countries also resolved to play an active role to promote peace and stability
in the region. The coming days will likely witness hectic activities on part of
both the countries to build upon the ideas and policies of the leaders of both
the countries.

Dr Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra is associated with
the Centre for South and Central Asian Studies, Central University of Punjab,
India.